Pokémon (franchise)
This article is about Nintendo's franchise, Pokémon. For other uses, see Pokémon. Pokémon is the name of the franchise, and originally, a series of video games, TV shows and more developed by the company Game Freak and published by Nintendo. The name "Pokémon" is from the shortened katakana form of Pocket Monsters (ポケモン, romanized Pokemon), ポケットモンスター (Poketto Monsutaa) in full in Japanese, although the franchise name may even be shortened to Pokémon as well sometimes. Although several spinoffs for other Nintendo systems have been released, the main series games are exclusive to Nintendo's hand-held platform, for which 18 games have been released, as well as 6 remakes. Pokémon was created by Satoshi Tajiri, who still has a hand in the production of the games. Pokémon was created in 1995. Gameplay The main Pokémon games all center around the strategic manipulation of creatures called Pokémon, from which the series takes its name. In the games, the player takes the role of a male or female human who has just received a license to catch Pokémon. The player usually goes to the local Pokémon Lab to receive a Starter Pokémon. In every main series game, the player is given a choice of three Pokémon; a Grass-type, a Fire-type, or a Water-type. A person possessing a Pokémon that trains it is called a Pokémon Trainer. Using their first Pokémon, players are now usually free to set off on their own adventure, in which they will collect Badges by defeating Gym Leaders. Once the player has collected eight badges, they can battle the Elite Four; four representatives of the Pokémon League that are considered the best Trainers in their respective region. Another goal of the game is to try to catch every Pokémon available; in the first Generation, there were 151 Pokémon available, but with every new Generation the number of Pokémon increases. Currently, there are 907 known Pokémon, and eight regions/generations, with the possibility of more being introduced in every new Generation. Pokémon can be caught by weakening them with other Pokémon, and then capturing them in a Poké Ball, where they can be stored for future use, to battle and help capture more Pokémon. Each Pokémon has a health gauge, and whomever gauge runs out first loses; however, a trainer can have several Pokémon, so if one Pokémon's gauge reaches zero (called "Fainting"), they can send out another Pokémon. Each trainer can carry a maximum of 6 Pokémon although many more can be caught and stored in a PC. In order to try to knock out the opposing Pokémon, order your Pokémon to attack the opposing team's Pokemon. Pokémon can learn up to four attacks, although there are many more attacks that they are capable of learning, so you can replace one of your moves when they are ready to learn a move. When all of a Trainer's Pokémon have fainted, the trainer must depart to a Pokémon Center and give up an amount of money. History Pokémon was the brainchild of a Japanese man named Satoshi Tajiri, born August 28, 1965. As a child, Tajiri was fascinated with insects and loved to hunt and collect different species of them, as well as devise new methods to attract them. The franchise was originally made for young women and teenagers, but developed male fans instead. Eventually, whilst Tajiri was in his early teens, most of the areas where Tajiri liked to hunt for bugs were replaced with modern establishments or demolished. No longer having the opportunity to collect insects, Tajiri created a fantasy in his mind about his adventures, his thoughts eventually evolving into a complicated idea. During the same time, Tajiri gained an interest in video games. In 1982, Tajiri formed a magazine with a few of his friends dedicated to video games. The name of this magazine was Game Freak. Over the years, Game Freak's focus changed from covering gaming news into creating games — they officially announced themselves as a video game developer in 1989, and released their first game, Mario & Yoshi, in 1991, for both the Game Boy and the NES. They subsequently released several other games, but in 1995, they struck gold; they, along with the help of Creatures and Nintendo, released Pocket Monsters Akai and Pocket Monsters Midori in Japan. The games were both a hit, with Akai doing best, and Nintendo decided to translate the games to English and release them in North America and Europe. Before this, they remade the games with the improved Pocket Monsters Blue, and thus incorporated the improvements into the two games to be released in North America. Since Pocket Monsters was already trademarked by another company in the United States, they needed to change the name – so, they just combined the words to form Pokémon. Since Midori did not sell well, they decided to change some aspects of it for the American release — including changing the name from the translated Green to Blue (although a "Blue" version was also released in Japan earlier, which improved on the original games). Pokémon Red and Pokémon Blue were both very successful in North America, and a series was born. The past English-language catchphrase was: "Gotta Catch `em all!" Game releases The games are generally released in pairs. For example, two games will be immediately released that are basically the same, except with several minor changes, and later, another improvement upon the last two games will be released. After this, work will begin on a new pair, which will have a vastly different story and various gameplay improvements. Examples of this are Pokémon Red and Blue, which are generally the same game, except certain Pokémon can only be obtained in either one. Shortly after the release of Pokémon Red and Blue, an improvement on these games was released; Pokémon Yellow, which featured improved color, and the addition of a Pikachu which followed the main character. List of games The following lists all of the games in the Pokémon franchise: Main series Game Boy *''Pokémon Red and Green Version'' (Japan) *''Pokémon Blue Version'' (Japan) *''Pokémon Red and Blue Version'' (International) *''Pokémon Yellow Version: Special Pikachu Edition'' (also known as Pokémon Pikachu in Japan) Game Boy Color *''Pokémon Gold and Silver Version'' *''Pokémon Crystal Version'' Game Boy Advance *''Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire Version'' *''Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen Version'' *''Pokémon Emerald Version'' Nintendo DS *''Pokémon Diamond and Pearl Version'' *''Pokémon Platinum Version'' *''Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver Version'' *''Pokémon Black and White Version'' *''Pokémon Black and White Version 2'' Nintendo 3DS *''Pokémon X and Y'' *''Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire'' *''Pokémon Sun and Moon'' *''Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon'' Nintendo Switch *''Pokémon Let's Go Pikachu and Let's Go Eevee'' *''Pokémon Sword and Shield'' Spin-off Game Boy *''Pokémon Pinball'' *''Pokémon Trading Card Game'' Game Boy Color *''Pokémon Puzzle Challenge'' Game Boy Advance *''Pokémon Pinball Ruby & Sapphire'' *''Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Red Rescue Team'' Nintendo DS *''Pokémon Dash'' *''Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team'' *''Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness'' *''Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky'' *''Pokémon Trozei!'' *''Pokémon Ranger'' *''Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia'' *''Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs'' *''Learn with Pokémon: Typing Adventure'' *''Pokémon Conquest'' Nintendo 3DS *''Pokédex 3D'' *''Pokémon Rumble Blast'' *''Pokémon Dream Radar'' *''Detective Pikachu'' *''Pokémon Shuffle'' *''Pokémon Rumble World'' *''Pokémon Battle Trozei'' *''Pokémon Picross'' *''Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon'' Nintendo 64 *''Hey You, Pikachu!'' *''Pokémon Snap'' *''Pokémon Puzzle League'' *''Pokémon Stadium'' *''Pokémon Stadium 2'' GameCube *''Pokémon Colosseum'' *''Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness'' *''Pokémon Box Ruby and Sapphire'' *''Pokémon Channel'' Wii *''Pokémon Battle Revolution'' *''My Pokémon Ranch'' *''PokéPark Wii: Pikachu's Adventure'' *''Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Stormy, Blazing, and Light Adventure Squads'' *''Pokémon Rumble'' *''PokéPark 2: Wonders Beyond'' Wii U *''Pokkén Tournament'' *''Pokémon Rumble U'' Nintendo Switch *''Pokkén Tournament DX'' *''Pokémon Quest'' ''Mobile'' *''Pokémon Say Tap?'' (Japan) *''Pokémon TCG Online'' *''Camp Pokémon'' *''Dance? Pokémon Band!'' (Japan) *''Pokémon Shuffle Mobile'' *''Pokémon Duel'' *''Pokémon GO'' *''Pokémon: Magikarp Jump'' *''Pokémon Playhouse'' (North America and Europe) *''Pokémon Rumble Rush'' *''Pokémon Masters'' *''Pokémon Quest'' ''Upcoming'' *''Detective Pikachu 2'' Gallery Main series Games Pokémon Red & Green Version Pokémon Red (Japan only) GreenBox(J).jpg Pokémon Red & Green Version Pokémon Green (Japan only) BlueBox(J).PNG Pokémon Red & Green Version Pokémon Blue (Japan only) Pokemon Red.jpg Pokémon Red & Blue Version Pokémon Red Pokemon Blue.jpg Pokémon Red & Blue Version Pokémon Blue Pokemon Yellow.jpg Pokémon Yellow Version: Special Pikachu Edition Pokémon Yellow Pokemon gold.jpg Pokémon Gold and Silver Pokémon Gold Pokemon silver.jpg Pokémon Gold and Silver Pokémon Silver Pokemon crystal.png Pokémon Crystal Ruby boxart.jpg Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire Pokémon Ruby Sapphire boxart.jpg Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire Pokémon Sapphire FireRed boxart.jpg Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen Pokémon FireRed LeafGreen boxart.jpg Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen Pokémon LeafGreen Pokémon Emerald boxart EN-US.jpg Pokémon Emerald DiamondUS.jpg Pokémon Diamond and Pearl Pokémon Diamond PearlUS.jpg Pokémon Diamond and Pearl Pokémon Pearl PokPlatinumBoxArt.jpg Pokémon Platinum HeartGoldUS.jpg Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver Pokémon HeartGold SoulSilverUS.jpg Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver Pokémon SoulSilver Pokemon Black.png Pokémon Black and White Pokémon Black Pokemon White.png Pokémon Black and White Pokémon White Black 2 English Boxart.png Pokémon Black 2 and Pokémon White 2 Pokémon Black 2 White 2 English Boxart.png Pokémon Black 2 and Pokémon White 2 Pokémon White 2 Pokemon X Version Boxart.png Pokémon X and Y Pokémon X Pokemon Y Version Boxart.png Pokémon X and Y Pokémon Y OmegaRuby-EN.png Pokémon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire Pokémon Omega Ruby AlphaSapphire-EN.png Pokémon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire Pokémon Alpha Sapphire Sun English Boxart.png Pokémon Sun and Moon Pokémon Sun Moon English Boxart.png Pokémon Sun and Moon Pokémon Moon Ultra Sun boxart.jpg Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon Pokémon Ultra Sun UM.jpg Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon Pokémon Ultra Moon Pokémon Let's Go Pikachu.png Pokémon Let's Go Pikachu and Let's Go Eevee Pokémon Let's Go Pikachu Pokémon Let's Go Eevee Box Art.png Pokémon Let's Go Pikachu and Let's Go Eevee Pokémon Let's Go Eevee Pokémon Sword Boxart.png Pokémon Sword and Shield Pokémon Sword Pokémon Shield Boxart.png Pokémon Sword and Shield Pokémon Shield }} Logo timeline Japanese 1997-2002 (Generations I and II) English 1998-present Trivia *The main symbol of Pokémon as a whole is the Poké Ball. *The second symbol of Pokémon is Pikachu (mainly anime). *There are 151 (if counting Mew) original Pokémon. *Mewtwo comes before Mew in the National and Kanto Pokédex. See also *List of topics related to Pokémon *List of Pokémon *Satoshi Tajiri External links *Official Pokémon site *Pokémon banned in Saudi Arabia *Pokémon Pick Up Lines Category:Pokémon